Phishing bait: Notice from Intuit on behalf of the IRS indicating a mismatched Employer Identification Number.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, February 2012]
Hello,
In our continuing effort to ensure that exact information is being maintained on our systems, as well as to provide you better quality of service; INTUIT INC. has taken part in the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] Name and TIN Matching Program.
We have found out, that your name and/or Employer Identification Number, that we have on your account does not match the data provided by the SSA. In order to review the information on your account, please click here.
Best regards,
INTUIT INC.
Corporate Headquarters
2632 Marine Way
Mountain View, CA 94043
Origins: Notices purporting to come from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) make good
phishing bait for a number of reasons:
- Notices from institutions of the federal government (especially an agency with the ominous reputation of the IRS) grab people's attention.
- Unlike other phishing schemes that emulate mailings from various private financial institutions (e.g., Bank of America) and are therefore easily recognized as phony by many recipients (because they do no business with those companies), a forged IRS notice has the potential to take in a much larger pool of victims, as most adult U.S. residents have dealings with that agency.
A February 2012 mass phish
e-mailing took advantage of those points, spamming Internet users with phony notices supposedly set by Intuit on behalf of the IRS, advising recipients that there were discrepancies in their Employer Identification Numbers. Intuit posted an
alert on its web site about the fake
e-mail advising recipients to:
- Do not click on the link in the email.
- Send a copy of the email to spoof@intuit.com.
- Do not forward the email to anyone else.
- Delete the email.
Last updated: 1 March 2012
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